Mi Bago wins the Pulpit (Lauren King)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gary Barber’s very well-traveled Mi Bago scored a coast-to-coast victory in Friday’s $115,000 Pulpit Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Making his first start since finishing an even fifth in the Nov. 1 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Del Mar, Mi Bago was sent to the lead by jockey Edwin Gonzalez and always looked like a winner in the 7 ½-furlong turf stakes for 2-year-olds. After setting fractions of 23.50 and 46.24 (seconds) for the first half mile, the New York-bred son of Vekoma rolled to a comfortable five-length triumph.
Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Mi Bago ran 7 ½ furlongs on a firm turf course in 1:27.06 while winning his second stakes in four career starts. The 9-5 favorite captured the one-mile Algonquin at six furlongs over the Woodbine turf before venturing to Southern California.
“Honestly, I kind of left it up to Edwin. He said he was going to break and try and get himself into a good position,” Casse’s assistant Nick Tomlinson said. “He broke running, and I was a little worried about how fast they were going. But he really quickened impressively. He ran really well today. It was a great race.”
Mi Bago debuted with a front-running 2-1/2 length victory going five furlongs on Colonial Downs main track Aug. 1. He finished off the board in a New York-bred stakes at Saratoga Aug. 25 before making the successful move to turf.
“He’s got the talent. Especially for a 2-year-old to go three-quarters in 1:09, that’s a lot to ask of them. The performance today was extremely impressive,” Tomlinson said. “We’ll definitely keep him on the grass. There’s a lot of good 3-year-old stakes coming up. We’ll just have to see how it all plays out and go from there.”
Hit the Review, the 7-2 second choice, finished second, a neck ahead of Bucaro.
